Method for predicting air interface capacity based on performance measurements

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of wireless telecommunications in a wireless telecommunications network that provides a plurality of service types. The method includes accessing at least one first performance measurement associated with the wireless telecommunications network and determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types based on the at least one performance measurement.

1 . A method of wireless telecommunications in a wireless telecommunications network that provides a plurality of service types, comprising: 
 accessing at least one first performance measurement associated with the wireless telecommunications network; and    determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types based on the at least one performance measurement.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing at least one first performance measurement comprises accessing at least one performance measurement counter.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein accessing said at least one performance measurement counter comprises accessing at least one performance measurement counter indicative of at least one of a number of users, a maximum number of active radio access bearers, a mean number of active radio access bearers, a number of call requests, a number of dropped calls, and a number of denied call requests.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein accessing said at least one performance measurement counter comprises selecting at least one performance measurement counter indicative of at least one of a received signal strength indicator, a transmitted signal strength indicator, a percentage of average transmit power, and a percentage of required power to support at least one common control channel.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining a number of active radio bearers.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining at least one of a noise floor and an overhead in response to determining that there are no active radio bearers.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining a number of service types associated with the active radio bearers.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining at least one load associated with one service type in response to determining that only one service type is associated with the active radio bearers.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining a plurality of loads associated with a plurality of service types in response to determining that a plurality of service types are associated with the active radio bearers.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing said at least one performance measurement comprises accessing said at least one performance measurement associated with at least one of an uplink and a downlink.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein determining at least one load associated with at least one of the plurality of service types comprises determining at least one capacity associated with at least one of the uplink and the downlink.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising storing said at least one capacity in a table.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising determining a capacity of the wireless telecommunications network based upon the at least one load.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising storing the capacity of the wireless telecommunications network in a table.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising accessing at least one second performance measurement, wherein the second performance measurement was performed after said at least one first performance measurement.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising modifying at least one load based on the second performance measurement.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , comprising determining a capacity of the wireless telecommunication network based on the at least one modified load.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising determining whether to upgrade the wireless telecommunication network based on the at least one load.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein determining whether to upgrade the wireless telecommunication network based on the at least one load comprises determining whether to upgrade the wireless telecommunication network based on at least one capacity determined based on the at least one load.